The present invention relates to a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus and semiconductor manufacturing method for manufacturing semiconductor devices such as an LSI and VLSI, and an exposure apparatus preferably used in such apparatus and method.
Conventionally, semiconductor exposure apparatuses for exposing wafers are popular in a process of manufacturing semiconductor devices such as an LSI and VLSI.
In the process of manufacturing these semiconductor devices, operations of a plurality of semiconductor exposure apparatuses used in the lithography step are generally managed by a host computer or personal computer for integrally controlling these exposure apparatuses in order to rapidly perform manufacturing processing (work processing) for a plurality of semiconductor devices in units of so-called lots with high efficiency and improve the production efficiency of the whole production line.
In executing processing for a given lot, the host computer or personal computer used in integral control generally selects, from a database storing operation parameters, a work unit (to be referred to as a job hereinafter) including predetermined operations necessary for the processing that are set (programmed) in advance. Then, the computer instructs an exposure apparatus to be controlled to start exposure processing.
In a recent semiconductor device manufacturing, plant, the availability of each of exposure apparatuses arranged in the semiconductor manufacturing plant is increased by integral control by a host computer or personal computer. At the same time, all the manufacturing steps are automated including coating units arranged for the pre-step and post-step of the exposure apparatus to supply predetermined agents, and a developing unit for developing an exposed substrate (wafer in an embodiment of the present invention), or a hybrid unit (to be referred to as a coating/developing unit hereinafter) capable of executing these steps by a single device. A series of manufacturing steps tend to be integrated into an in-line process in an unmanned clean room (i.e., a manufacturing line for automatically executing these manufacturing steps tends to be constructed).
In this automated manufacturing line, one lot as one manufacturing unit is often processed as one carrier including a plurality of (e.g., 25) wafers. In general, semiconductors to be manufactured for various types of products each in a small quantity require different jobs or reticles to be executed or used every lot.
To automate the semiconductor device manufacturing process, increase the availability of each exposure apparatus, and process wafers with high efficiency under these circumstances, switching processing between a given lot and the next lot must be rapidly done.
In switching processing between lots in a conventional exposure apparatus, the job or reticle is switched to one to be executed or used for the next lot after the previous lot is processed, and the final wafer included in the lot is unloaded.
This switching processing is performed by transferring a job (job data) selected from a database by a device such as an integral control computer to an exposure apparatus to be controlled, and loading a reticle to be used for the next lot to a reticle stage.
However, the conventional switching processing suffers the following problem.
More specifically, when a job for a previous lot is different from that for the next job, the job and reticle can only be switched to ones for the next lot after the final wafer included in the previous lot is unloaded, and the exposure apparatus shifts to a standby state for the next lot. The time required to switch the job for a given lot to that for the next lot decreases the availability of each exposure apparatus. This fails to increase the manufacturing efficiency of the whole manufacturing line.
The present invention has been made to overcome the conventional drawbacks, and has as its object to shorten the switching time between lots in the manufacturing process of successively processing lots using different jobs or original plates, and increases the availability of an exposure apparatus or the efficiency of the exposure step in an exposure apparatus, semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, and semiconductor manufacturing method.
To achieve the above object, according to the present invention, an exposure apparatus for performing exposure processing for a plurality of substrates (e.g., semiconductor wafers) in accordance with a predetermined job corresponding to a lot constituted by the substrates to be exposed comprises switching means for switching the job to a job corresponding to a lot to be processed next while a final substrate is unloaded after the final substrate included in the lot in process is exposed by a final shot.
A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention comprises this exposure apparatus.
According to the present invention, a semiconductor manufacturing method of controlling an exposure mechanism using a controller to perform exposure processing for a plurality of substrates in accordance with a predetermined job corresponding to a lot constituted by the substrates to be exposed, and manufacturing semiconductor devices from the exposed substrates comprises switching, by the controller, the job to a job corresponding to a lot to be processed next while a final substrate is unloaded after the final substrate included in the lot in process is exposed by a final shot.
When lots using different jobs or original plates (e.g., exposure patterns) are successively processed in the arrangement of the present invention, the job or original plate is switched to one to be used in the next lot before the completion of unloading the final substrate after the final substrate included in a lot in process is exposed by the final shot.
According to the present invention, the time from the completion of exposing the final substrate to the completion of unloading is shortened, compared to a conventional apparatus which can only switch a job or original plate after the final substrate is unloaded.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same or similar parts throughout the figures thereof.